Document Type : Original Article
Highlights
Today, political parties in most countries of the world have developed and expanded rapidly, so that they form the main body of political activity in any society. With the exception of a few completely authoritarian countries, no country in the world can be found without political parties.
In general, the existence and activity of political parties is one of the important criteria in dividing political systems into authoritarian and democratic. Some countries follow a bipartisan system, while others have a multi-party system. In democracies, there are several active parties, while in authoritarian regimes there is only one party. Political scientists consider competition between two or more parties to be an essential component of democracy.
Transparency is one of the fundamental and vital components in financing the election expenses of political parties. If sponsors make their funding available to only a limited number of politicians, it will reduce the ability of ordinary citizens to influence policies and policymakers through voting, and a serious challenge to democratization. It is politics. Having limited information about where funding is provided and how to use it, how much money is spent on elections and election-related issues, facilitates informed decision-making for difficult voters and corruption, and undermines citizens' trust in political institutions. برد. Today, political parties play a major role in elections. In other words, electoral systems are based on party and organizational political activity rather than candidate-centered.
In Iran, it has been a long time since the Supreme Leader announced general election policies, but only clauses related to transparency in the financing of election expenses have been implemented. One of the important measures taken to make the expenses of political parties transparent is the comprehensive election bill that was submitted to the Islamic Consultative Assembly in late 1397, but was opposed by the Guardian Council and returned to the Assembly and was finally removed from the agenda. . Finally, under pressure from the media and public opinion, the "Plan to Transparency of Sources for Financing Campaigns and Election Activities by Amending Some Articles of the Islamic Consultative Assembly Election Law" was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly in 1398. This law is currently in force. Another important law in order to make the expenses of political parties more transparent is the new law on political parties and groups, which has examined the expenses of political parties in a more detailed and transparent manner than the previous law.
In the books and articles he has written, some aspects of this research have been examined. These include the book Electoral Systems, written by Mahmoud Golshanpajooh, the article by Mona Ahmadi and Seyed Mohammad Hashemi entitled "Mechanisms of Financial Supervision of Parties in Iranian Case Law" and the article by Majid Bozorgmehri entitled "Comparative Study of Electoral Campaigns in the System "Iranian and French presidential elections." However, none of these studies have addressed the issues related to the financing of political parties in terms of the principle of transparency, and from this point of view, the subject of the present article is quite novel and practical.
The main question of this research is how transparent is the financing of election expenses in Iran? To this end, first, the concept of the party and its situation in Iran are discussed. We will then examine the principle of transparency in election spending in international instruments and the laws of some countries. Next, the status of financial transparency of political parties in the law on political parties and transparency in the financing of election expenses in the presidential and parliamentary elections are examined.
In the new law on political parties, the role of the Article 10 Commission and the Ministry of Interior as the institution overseeing the expenses of political parties was strengthened. The law stipulates that parties must submit an annual performance report to the Article 10 Commission each year, and in the event of a party breach, strict enforcement guarantees are provided, even to the extent of suspension and dissolution. The Guardian Council can also monitor the cost of political parties complying with the law during elections.
There is also a system of oversight within the party to ensure the financial soundness of political parties.
The law explicitly states that the financing of political parties must be done in a legitimate and legal way. Therefore, illegal activities of parties for their own financing are prohibited and considered a crime. The appealability of the decisions of the Article 10 Commission, as the case may be, in the Court of Administrative Justice and the General Courts of Justice can be considered as positive actions of this law, which guarantees the independence of the parties to some extent. The law sought to regulate the method of allocating government subsidies to political parties, but set a clear standard in this regard, which later led to the adoption of a bylaw in this regard by the Cabinet.
Regarding the transparency of the expenses of political parties during the election campaign, this issue has been raised only sporadically. Therefore, the financing of presidential election expenses does not have the necessary transparency. Regarding the elections to the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the passage of the new law on transparency and oversight of the financing of the expenses of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections was partially guaranteed. Prohibition and restriction of financial assistance to political parties in the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections, determining the cases of election expenses in a limited way, requiring the opening of a bank account and depositing all donations and withdrawing election expenses from this account are the most important measures to ensure transparency of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections. Is.
However, reform proposals are proposed to ensure transparency at the expense of political parties:
